Page 134 of Fracture

“All I ever wanted was to make things right.”

“Don’t talk about that now.”

“I need to, pretty girl.” I kiss her head, stroking her fingers with mine. “All I ever wanted to do was protect you. And I let you down.”

She wraps her arm around me gently, tears soaking my shoulder as she cries.

“I want a life with you, and Dylan,” I tell her quietly, her body shaking. “I want to wake up next to you every day and know I have you to come home to at the end of it. That’s all I ever wanted, Stella. You, and him. Us. Together. And I fucked it up.” I entwine my fingers with hers, and she looks up at me, tears continuing to pour down her face. “I love you so much, and I’m so, so sorry.”

“I’m not.” She shakes her head, biting her lip. “I’m not. I’m going to make this right. I promise.”

Stella looks over at the door, and I gingerly move my head to watch Zee walk into the room. Their face is drawn, their eyes filled with sorrow. Stella’s sharp intake of breath sets my heart racing.

“No,” Stella gasps, her hand flying to her mouth.

Zee quickly raises their hands. “He’s out of surgery, but he’s in the ICU.”

“Is he going to be OK?” Stella asks, gripping my hand harder.

Zee exhales heavily and shrugs. “They don’t know. They said he’s in pretty bad shape.” They dash a hand against their face. “They said all we can do is wait.” They slump into the chair beside my bed, running their hands over their face.

We all lapse into silence. There’s nothing else to say right now. Nothing else happens in that room, but tears and prayers, and the hope that, just this once, someone is fucking listening.

CHAPTER 33

LEVI

The doctors manageto keep the cops away from me for two days, insisting I need to recover before they’re allowed to talk to me.

My right eye is fucked.

The doctors do test after test with lights of different colors, and I can’t see any of them, just a dull haze, like a lighthouse through the fog. They keep saying it could still improve. They keep telling me not to lose hope.

I don’t even care about my eye. Because the news coming back from the ICU is that Dylan is improving. There were 6 awful hours last night when his patched-up lung collapsed and he was rushed back to surgery. Stella shivered beside me that whole time, sleeping fitfully while we waited for news.

But he made it. Dylan made it back to us. He held on. They took him back to the ICU and said he was improving rapidly. Stella was allowed to go and sit with him for a while.

I’m still under guard in the hospital room.

And now, the doctors can’t keep the cops away anymore.

“I’m not leaving,” Stella says as the two detectives enter the room. “I’m here as his lawyer.”

Detective Hawkins nods, and pulls up a chair beside my bed. “How are you feeling, Mr Fenton?”

“Like I got shot in the head.”

Hawkins suppresses a smirk and shakes her head. “Glad to see you’re still with us.”

“Thanks.”

“He’s not making a statement right now,” Stella interjects. “You can ask what you want, but I’ve advised my client to say nothing.”

“Understood.” Hawkins casts a glance over her shoulder at her partner, who’s leaning against the window behind her, arms crossed over his chest, then turns back to me. “Now, your lawyer is correct, you don’t have to answer anything today. But I did want to let you know what happened in your family home.”

Here we fucking go.

Hawkins takes a deep breath, clutching her hands in her lap. “It would appear Michael Gray had been planning this attack for some time.”

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